Mozambique Stone Age Landscape: A Decade of Archaeological Research

Since the publication of our 2016 review mapping the Stone Age of Mozambique (Gonçalves et al., 2016), Stone Age archaeological research in the country has intensified significantly. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of 657 Stone Age sites, including 272 newly documented sites. The recent discoveries in a total of more than 400 sites, discovered primarily through systematic survey campaigns between 2010 and 2025, represent an important increase over the 250 sites known prior to 2010, fundamentally transforming our understanding of prehistoric occupation patterns in southeastern Africa. Our analysis examines altitudinal distribution, clustering, and regional settlement patterns across the Early Stone Age (ESA), Middle Stone Age (MSA), and Late Stone Age (LSA). Analysis reveals significant elevation differences between chronological periods, with ESA sites at lowest elevations, MSA at highest, and LSA intermediate. Multicomponent sites occupy significantly lower elevations than sites with only MSA assemblages, suggesting persistent landscape advantages at low-elevation locations such as river floodplains and coastlines. The extended analysis demonstrates that 45.8% of all sites contain MSA evidence when multicomponent assemblages are included, revealing MSA as the dominant phase and indicating maximum territorial expansion during this period. Clustering patterns intensify progressively from ESA (60% highly clustered) through MSA (76%) to LSA (81%), suggesting evolution from extensive mobility to intensive landscape use. Provincial analysis reveals four distinct settlement zones: Maputo, Niassa, and Gaza Provinces are dominated by MSA occupations, while the Sofala Province is dominated by LSA coastal plain occupation. Also relevant are the very common multiple component sites in the Maputo province. These findings show that survey results, including mainly open-air sites, are (1) an important source of information to better understand the Stone Age, (2) significantly enhance our understanding of prehistoric human behavioral variability in Mozambique and southeastern Africa, and (3) provide crucial data for testing hypotheses about the emergence and dispersal of early Homo sapiens .